A friend of mine would like to go back to school for another BA. I know how quickly FW threads can get off-topic, so I feel obligated to say that the discussion of whether getting a 2nd BA is worth the $ is not the purpose of this post. But that is what she would like to do.
I understand that if you already have a bachelor's degree, then you do not qualify for most types of financial aid if you decide to go back to school. My question is what other loan options are available for her?
In this credit crunch, I am expecting to hear there are not many options for private loans for an unemployed person with an average FICO. But I am interested to hear what creative ideas FWers can come up with ..
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Sometimes we cant all do what we would "like" to do, and need to do what is required, like get a job and payback existing debts, instead of using more school as a break from the real world
2BA should qualify for Stafford loans thru FAFSA, assuming that your "friend" qualify for FAFSA, has not maxed out the undergraduate Stafford loan aggregate limit, and your "friend" will enroll at least as a half-time degree seeking student.
You are disqualified from any grants that I know of but you can get Stafford and Perkins loans.
By the way, I'm sure you already know that getting a second "useless" liberal arts degree won't help you if you couldn't manage to get much use out of the first one.
liberal arts degrees are not useless. To the contrary undergrad business degree are useless, every employer wants to know where your MBA is. And do not get me started on people studying Econ as if it were a business major.
mewannaxbox said:liberal arts degrees are not useless. To the contrary undergrad business degree are useless, every employer wants to know where your MBA is. And do not get me started on people studying Econ as if it were a business major.
Yes, but this thread is distinctly lacking some "M".
Since this is the *second* degree, that means you wouldn't need to do *everything* over again, so at most 2 years worth of courses full time. And it's likely *some* of the junior and senior year courses taken from the *first* BA degree would satisfy certain requirements for the *second* degree. So *my* recommendation would be to do the *second* degree part time while working at some unfulfilling job. After you graduate, you will be able to widen your selection of unfulfilling jobs.
p.s. there's a crumb of some sort below my * key, I am trying to mash it until I can't feel it anymore... oh wait, that should be ***
mewannaxbox said:liberal arts degrees are not useless. To the contrary undergrad business degree are useless, every employer wants to know where your MBA is. And do not get me started on people studying Econ as if it were a business major.
People are quick to dismiss a BBA, but at all the schools I'm familiar with, accounting is taught through the business school. Some provide a BS in accounting, most a BBA. Ask your CPA what his undergrad degree was.
My creative advice is that she should get a teaching certificate and only take out loans that would be dischargable through the forgiveness programs. This is just a backup in case other best laid plans don't work out. Essentially, your friend might as well be financing her second BA degree with credit cards for the types of rates/programs she will get.
If she were to go for an MA, she would be eligible to suckle at the Stafford Loans to the tune of $20,500/yr at 6.8%.
(Not that any of this is advisible...just laying out options!)
JustAce said:Why isn't this person just going to grad school? That's what its meant for, career switching and advancement. Unless I'm missing something?
Maybe they do not have the GPA to get into grad school. I've heard this route advised if you have a really useless major and a bad GPA the first time around. If they get a second undergrad at a different school, they can likely use some of the credits from the first degree and also they can use that new GPA to apply for grad school in the future.
I think it is a waste of money. I would rather use some of the money and take some classes at the junior college for courses that are beneficial. I think graduate school is only the sensible choice if your friend is going to take a loan.
I have a BS in biology with a C+ average, no GRE scores and got accepted into grad school for computer science at three different California state colleges for fall 2009 (including a tier 1.)
Most master's programs have ways that you can be admitted conditionality with a non-related bachelors. For example with computer science I had to take a year of object-oriented programming at the local community college along with some math classes.
I had to research the grad school programs of about a dozen state colleges to finally find a few that took students with average grades and test scores but I hope it was worth the time and effort.
For FAFSA, they won't pay for a 2nd bachelors if it is in a similar field. For example, you can get a degree in business and then get a 2nd degree in computer science since they are not related.
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